7^ 
Iticiiif'ts at Hrcctliuj^ Albinos. 
their niollior. who looked ahiiost as l)e;uuiful as a (louldian 
l^'inch in the sunli,ylit, could not have been ureater. Their 
plumage, of course, was normal. 
A month later a horde of rats broke into the aviary and 
killed about eighty birds out of a hundred in a single night. 
Among the few survivors were a young cock (loldfinch, the 
original white hen .^parroAx . and one ot her sons. 
'Jdie wire netting was carried to a depth of three feet, 
and l)ent two feet outwards. A strip, two feet wide, was also 
laid on the surface, but they burrowed under a few nights later. 
This time they finished off the remaining canaries anil 
hybrids and killed a pure white sparrow with pink eves, which 
had not mated. 
I sold the white hen. which had now grown a dirty bib. 
and one of her sons, to a member of the I'.B.C. and gave up 
lairds for the time. 
A year or two before this I bought a guaranteed " i)air 
of white robins with pink eyes, not having then learned that 
there ain't no sich thing." The plumage of any British cock 
bird may be white, but apparently the eye is invariably normal, 
and total whiteness is an appropriate female monoi)oly. 
One of these robins died: the other built and laid twice. 
Shortly afterwards she was sold, as robins are too pugnacious 
to experiment with — moral impostors who do not cover the 
bodies of their victims with leaves, as too many would be 
recpiired. 
During the winter of 1919-1920 I saw no rats about, and 
decided on a fresh start. 
I l)ought a white cock Goldfinch with a red cap. a very 
pretty white cock Chaffinch with a dash of pale slate and pale 
yellow in places (a beautiful faint rose colour appeared on his 
breast later"), and a cinnamon hen Chaffinch. All three had 
appeared in an " Albino Class " at the National Show at 
Edinburgh. 
A few weeks later I obtained from Ireland a white Gold- 
finch hen with black wing tips. But this last was in miserable 
condition and apparentlv old. In spite of the greatest care 
